July-August SS Contest

**AZimmer23** · July 14th, 2012, 12:03 AM

Wow. TMSO just informed me I won the last round. I've been suicidal and away so I'm sorry this is only now being announced, but the new theme is

INSANITY

Are you crazy? Are the people around you crazy? Is the whole freaking Universe crazy????

Let us know. 2500 wd minimum. 10K max, please.

I'll put the voting post up August 25th.

Rock on and thanks for keeping me here.

**tmso** · July 14th, 2012, 12:21 AM

Great theme, and glad you are wih us. Very glad.

**Slynt** · July 14th, 2012, 05:46 AM

Congratulations, AZimmer23 and cheers for a new short story contest

First thought that came to mind was that yes, indeed, most people around me are insane, second thought was H.P. Lovecraft and Insanity points in the Call of Chtulhu roleplaying game. I think I'll have to chew on a third option for the story.

Edit: Wow, I was struck by something (not lightning though weather reports suggest we may have thunder and lightning here today) and am on a roll already. My goal now is to get it done quickly so that I can spend the remaining contest time getting feedback and polish it before voting. Because it is the final edit before voting that counts, right?

**norm** · July 14th, 2012, 04:22 PM

Congrats for the win, and thanks for the great read last month.

Well this shouldn't be too difficult, since I often write on the subject already. 10,000 words though. . . I've done 5000, I've done 15,000. What can I write in 10,000 words?

**txshusker** · July 17th, 2012, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by norm

Congrats for the win, and thanks for the great read last month.

Well this shouldn't be too difficult, since I often write on the subject already. 10,000 words though. . . I've done 5000, I've done 15,000. What can I write in 10,000 words?

You don't have to hit 10K! It's not the length, it's the quality.

(insert running joke here.. and here)

**AZimmer23** · July 18th, 2012, 06:30 PM

I set the 10k word limit not so much for the writers but for the reader/judges. We're all working on our shorts, our flashes and (some of us) on stories for the apocalypse anthology, not to mention our novels and our lives. I'm not going to be such a hard nose that I'm going to check with MS Word but reading 10 12k stories can be a bit daunting, so I set that limit. Still 10k is a pretty meaty story.

**norm** · July 24th, 2012, 06:51 PM

Well, it finally clicked today. After starting up a few different ideas and not really finding any momentum, it suddenly occured to me that a recent story I had started for other purposes fits this theme well enough. I added a few ideas to it today, and now I think I'll run with it and see where it takes me.

And I have absolutely no doubt that I'm going to be needing every last one of those ten thousand words.

**norm** · August 3rd, 2012, 03:25 PM

Well, I hope everyone's stories are progressing nicely.

I realized today, after putting 5500 words into my short story, that it bears a lot of similarity to a classic work of fiction which I haven't read, but the premise seems very similar. I feel like an idiot. I don't even know if I want to keep working on this thing or abandon it and try something else. Even the title I was thinking of using is very similar.

**tmso** · August 3rd, 2012, 04:56 PM

Keep writing. It'll probably be similar, but definitely not the same. Just name it 'Norm's Party'.

Dang, I haven't even started this one...

**norm** · August 6th, 2012, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by tmso

Keep writing. It'll probably be similar, but definitely not the same. Just name it 'Norm's Party'.

Dang, I haven't even started this one...

I picked up my story again yesterday. It occured to me that I should actually try reading back what I had written before abandoning the story, since I hadn't really read a lot of it. I just sort put stuff down as it came to me and didn't check it over.There was some neat stuff in there that I had forgotten about. Makes me think that it might be worth finishing this thing.

**zachariah** · August 8th, 2012, 04:59 AM

Originally Posted by Slynt

My goal now is to get it done quickly so that I can spend the remaining contest time getting feedback and polish it before voting. Because it is the final edit before voting that counts, right?

Reading all the entries for this one is a big commitment. I can't speak for anyone else, but I typically read stories when they are posted (or as soon as I can), and, particularly if it's a long one, I will not come back to it later. First impressions are vital, edits are wasted on my kind. IMO you should not be posting things publicly until they are completely finished in your eyes.

**tmso** · August 8th, 2012, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by zachariah

IMO you should not be posting things publicly until they are completely finished in your eyes.

I agree, however, in practice, I rarely follow it. I'm trying to do that this month, but I fear I won't get past the feeling that it totally sucks to put it up. That's why I usually just throw it up there as soon as I can, because otherwise, I just trash it. (shrug)

Do what works, Slynt. But do keep in mind what zachariah mentioned. Though I do read an entry more than once, my first impression rarely (okay, never) changes. Sad, but true.

**norm** · August 8th, 2012, 01:58 PM

I personally hate having that message at the bottom of my posts that says Last edited by norm. Reason: He didn't edit his story properly. I don't like posting until I feel that the story is done to the best of my ability.

**tmso** · August 8th, 2012, 02:57 PM

There's always typos, norm. Always. When they don't breed, they self-replicate. Then mutate. Sometimes, all three at the same time.

**norm** · August 11th, 2012, 07:35 PM

Okay, so here's where I'm at now.

Added a bit more to my short story. Then I got bored with it, and abandoned it. I thought up another idea yesterday, wrote about 1000 words, got bored with that one, abandoned it. Came up with a new idea today, I kind of like it, might run with it and see where it takes me.

Two weeks left. Oh boy, not good.